Rep. Matt Gaetz resigns from Congress amid Trump nomination

Rep. Matt Gaetz resigned from Congress on Wednesday after President-elect Donald Trump named him attorney general.

Now that he has resigned, an ethics investigation into allegations of sex trafficking, sexual misconduct and drug use against Gaetz by the Justice Department has also ended.

Gaetz has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and said last year that the Justice Department’s investigation into sex trafficking allegations involving underage girls had ended without federal charges being filed against him.

Gaetz’s nomination was one of several Trump made today as he continues to shape his second administration, thus far emphasizing aides and allies who were his strongest backers during the 2024 campaign.

Gaetz’s departure will mark an eight-week window to fill his seat. Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson said Wednesday, possibly in time for the new Congress on Jan. 3, 2025.

Gaetz’s statement on his appointment

In a statement Wednesday announcing his pick, Trump said Gaetz would root out “systemic corruption” at the Justice Department and return the department “to its true mission: fighting crime and upholding our democracy and Constitution .”

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Gaetz wrote: “It will be an honor to serve as President Trump’s Attorney General!”

Hours before the announcement, Gaetz said in a social media post that a “full legal press against this ARMED government” is needed. He added, “And if that means abolishing all three-letter agencies, from the FBI to the ATF, then I’m ready to get to work!” If appointed attorney general, he would oversee both the FBI and the ATF, formally known as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

What was Gaetz investigated for?

The federal sex trafficking investigation that began under Attorney General Bill Barr during Trump’s first term focused on allegations that Gaetz and former political ally Joel Greenberg paid underage girls and escorts or offered them gifts in exchange for sex.

Greenberg, a fellow Republican who served as a tax collector in Florida’s Seminole County, admitted as part of a plea deal with prosecutors in 2021 saying he paid women and an underage girl to have sex with him and other men. The men were not identified in court documents when he pleaded guilty. Greenberg was convicted at the end of 2022 to 11 years in prison.

Federal investigators were looking into a trip Gaetz took to the Bahamas with a group of women and a doctor who donated to his campaign, and whether the women were paid or received gifts to have sex with the men, according to people familiar with the matter and they are not allowed to discuss the research publicly. Prosecutors also investigated whether Gaetz and his associates tried to secure government jobs for some women, and investigated Gaetz’s connections to the government. medical marijuana industryincluding whether his associates tried to influence legislation that Gaetz sponsored, the people said.

Gaetz remains under investigation by the House Ethics Committee over allegations that he was part of a scheme that led to the sex trafficking of a 17-year-old girl.

The committee started her evaluation of Gaetz in April 2021, postponed her work in response to a request from the Department of Justice, and renewed her work shortly after Gaetz announced that the Justice Department had ended a sex trafficking investigation.

Over the summer, the committee provided an unusual public update on its long-running investigation, saying its probe now includes whether Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illegal drug use, accepted inappropriate gifts and attempted government investigations into hinder his behavior. Gaetz has categorically denied all allegations before the committee.

What will happen if Gaetz is confirmed?

Rep. Michael Guest, the Republican chairman of the House Ethics Committee, told The Associated Press that Gaetz’s appointment does not change the panel’s ongoing investigation. But if Gaetz is confirmed to the Cabinet position, the committee will no longer have the jurisdiction to continue its investigation or release its report, he said.

“We are not going to rush this investigation because of the agreement,” Gast said. “And so we are once again going to follow the rules and procedures that we have established.”